Margarita hair - the update
Dana, aka dear friend/stylist extraordinaire is probably still hiding in her basement, rocking back and forth in a corner as we speak. Turns out I have freak hair. Freak with a capital “F.”
As in some spots on my head absorb various dyes super fast, while some are incredibly slow. And some parts don’t really absorb much at all. AWESOME, right? (snicker)
We had no idea as we embarked on this quest to turn me to “the dark side”. But we soon found out that the process wasn’t going to be as easy as we’d thought. So there wasn’t much margarita consumption, unfortunately. Apparently certain medications I take GREATLY hindered the process.
When I left Dana’s Thursday night, we thought the color looked pretty good. But the harsh light of Friday morning revealed all sorts of different colors. (And not in that attractive or quirky-funky-cute way.) On Saturday, Dana turned into the ”little stylist that could.” I got to her house about 10:30 a.m. She spent the next six hours trying to get an even, natural color. When I was ready to say, “Ah, screw it, let’s just shave my head already,” she was the one to say, “Don’t worry, I can get this to work.”
This photo is the final result. So if you’re reading this right now while sipping some sort of beverage, please join me in a toast. To Dana — the determined friend/stylist who pulled a miracle out of her ass. Yeay Dana!
Do you have a hair color horror story? Please share!
Suebob on 31 Mar 2008 at 4:45 am #
Are you sure it wasn’t the margaritas that made it difficult to color your hair?
Horror? Billy Yamaguchi http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/News/08/14/sf.fengshui/
feng shui’d my hair against my will. I ended up sobbing helplessly because there were ALL these people around me, messing with my hair (and my head) and I got overwhelmed…It was awful, and it took forever. Gah!
flutter on 31 Mar 2008 at 4:56 am #
Oh you mean like when I dyed my hair pink? Yeah….
Frances on 31 Mar 2008 at 8:02 am #
Oh do I ever have a horror story..and it was self-inflicted!
I had become recently single. I decided to dye my hair red. (Yes, red.) I’m talking bright, almost carrot top, red. I kept it for awhile and it started driving me crazy. So I ended up dying my hair dark brown on top of it. Of course - I didn’t know just how bad this was. I me DH later and he fell in love with me, bright red hair and all. I got engaged and my mom and I were both determined that I would have my blondish-brown hair back for my wedding. 6 weeks prior to my wedding I spent over 8 hours having my hair stripped (thank GOD I didn’t have to bleach it!), re-dyed close to my natural hair color, and highlighted.
Never will I attempt again to dye my hair. I will leave it to the professionals.
Cheryl on 31 Mar 2008 at 9:51 am #
I think it looks terrific! = My sister once dyed her dishwater blonde hair, and it turned bright green. It took a very talented colorist 6 hours to strip all the color out, dye it bright clown-hair red, and then tone it down to a dark, rich brown. Those stylists are so dedicated. Dana deserves combat pay or something like that.
Alissa on 31 Mar 2008 at 11:55 am #
It looks pretty! Not as dark as I was expecting, but pretty!
Amber on 31 Mar 2008 at 12:05 pm #
Oh my gosh, it looks so different! But great! And what an ordeal…
I have yet to dye my hair but I still remember when my college roommate wanted red highlights and they turned out neon orange. Ahhhh, good times!
Heidi on 31 Mar 2008 at 1:06 pm #
Picture looks great…would never have known you had to struggle so to get there! Go Dana!
Heidi
Sheila on 31 Mar 2008 at 1:33 pm #
*Toasting my coffee cup to Dana* Your hair looks great!
I don’t have a hair color horror story - other than since my total hyst. 4 years ago, my hair has changed color on it’s own. I spent the first 30 something years of my life as a blonde. Now my hair is a dull, mousy, light- brown. I was coloring it for a while, trying to hold onto what once was but the up-keep became too much. *sigh*
FunnyGal KAT on 31 Mar 2008 at 1:50 pm #
I’ve dyed my hair a reddish hue since I was in middle school. I use that stuff that (supposedly) fades out after 24 washes. In college, I decided to go with a darker red and chose “Black Cherry” (hey, it had cherry in the name! cherries are red!)
I basically dyed my hair black. And it was Valentine’s Day so everyone thought I had done it on purpose because I didn’t have a boyfriend at the time. AND it took almost a year for it to grow out/fade.
MommyTime on 31 Mar 2008 at 2:15 pm #
First of all, the hair does not look even a little bit piebald or patchy or whatever — so Dana did great. Second of all, it could be worse: my sister dyed her own hair once, and it ended up a sort of lavendar-ish-pink except at the roots, which were quite maroon. Very pretty. Especially as this was the “fix up” before meeting her boyfriend’s family for the first time. His mother was delighted, as you can imagine, that he was “dating a girl with PINK hair?!”
Michelle DePew on 31 Mar 2008 at 2:32 pm #
It looks great, who knew you went thru so much…..
Me and my sister share way TOO many hair horror stories to dredge up…
Here is a classic one–
Normally,brown hair, tried to go blonde -ended up with florescent yellow. Tried to fix yellow, ended up with gray. Tried to fix gray with brown, but hair was fried. Gummy to be exact. Had to cut all hair off and start over. True story.
There was also a time when I tried to perm my sisters hair, we were drinking (not recommended), and I ended up putting step two of the process on her hair prior to step one. It pays to read the bottle or hire a professional.
jaelithe on 31 Mar 2008 at 3:12 pm #
You know, I was totally planning to dye my hair this weekend too! I was going to try to go for DIY red highlights. I really miss the red highlights I used to have naturally before I had my son.
But when I went to get my hair cut (I will dye my own hair, but I will not cut my own hair), the stylist was going on about what a lovely natural honey blonde color I had, and how awesome it was going to look in the summertime with natural highlights once I managed to get it some more sun . . .
And I thought, aww, screw it. I’ll keep it as is until those hints of grey I’m seeing at the top get more obvious.
(That stylist must not sell very many dye jobs, I think.)
~JJ! on 31 Mar 2008 at 5:03 pm #
I totally turned my hair orange once…I tried to lighten it…Never again.
I’ll stay brunette forever…and gray.
cagey on 31 Mar 2008 at 5:29 pm #
I like your hair!!
My hair color horror story:
I colored my hair the night before going on a business trip. The color came out really, REALLY red (Pippi Longstockingish) and I did not do the conditioning part correctly. And it was winter. That morning, my hair was SO full of static that my bangs were standing straight up and I could not get them to lie down for anything. It did not help that I am not much of a “product” girl, so I did not even have anything to work with.
The business trip was a CAR trip from St. Louis to Kirksville, with my MANAGER, in his Porsche. Ugh.
Farrell on 31 Mar 2008 at 5:41 pm #
I’ve never and would never attempt to die my own hair - I don’t trust myself.
You need a “before” pic up there so we can compare/contrast.
My ex SIL (BITCH!) sent me to some hoity-toity salon and I tried to dye my hair BLOND BLOND - because my (now ex) husband had begged me to do so for years (I’m normally light brown) and they dyed it like, platinum? I mean, like it was so fake and gross so I freaked and told them to fix it, so they dyed my hair back to brown, and the brown and the blond created…strawberry blond. Sorta. but not really. It was disgusting. And it totally ruined my hair for like 18 months. My hair was dry as dry as dry could be. It was horrible. all of this, from a posh-posh salon too. the lady that I went to after said, “yeah, that guy did NOT know what he was doing.”
candygirlflies on 31 Mar 2008 at 5:55 pm #
I call my hair horror story: “When Mummy Channelled Marilyn Manson”.
Part 1 is here:
http://icanflyjustnotup.blogspot.com/2007/09/on-self-maintenance.html
And part 2 is here:
http://icanflyjustnotup.blogspot.com/2007/09/woman-formerly-known-as-mummy.html
(shudder…)
xo CGF
ps. You look great, by the way!!
Julie @ Letter9 on 31 Mar 2008 at 7:00 pm #
The little stylist that could. Teehee. Looks like perseverance paid off. A lesson to all of us, right? One day when your boy wants to quit something you can tell him the story of the margarita hair. : )
Sarah in Disturbia on 31 Mar 2008 at 11:41 pm #
I had an urge to check your blog today … only the second time I’ve ever read it. I think I feel a special long distance midwestern connection to you. From the picture . . . you look awesome!! If you were close by I would kidnap you and take you to see Gay John, hairdresser extraordinaire. But like I said, you look awesome regardless. Thanks for sharing your hair drama. . . love it!!
Ree on 01 Apr 2008 at 12:30 am #
It’s beauti-ous. The only horror story I have is that coloring my hair tends to make it fall out.
Does that help? At least you don’t have bald spots.
Chicky Chicky Baby on 01 Apr 2008 at 12:46 am #
I think all that extra effort, and fewer margaritas, paid off. You’re rockin’ that hair color, girlfriend!
Beth on 01 Apr 2008 at 3:02 am #
I like it! I would not have recognized you from that picture - changing the color really changes your look! I’ll have to see it in person to verify this.
I have no hair color nightmare stories, except the time my cousin and I went swimming at a little pool in our grandparents town, and it turned her hair very green (why hers and not mine, I couldn’t tell ya. We have the same hair). They called her Kermit at school the rest of the year.
Liz on 01 Apr 2008 at 4:27 pm #
Wow, you are HAWT! On the other hand, you look awesome as a blonde, too. Me. Well, I’ve probably worm every color on the hair supply specturm, except blonde, and still am…you know…working it all out.
This month, I’m more aubrun-ish ;o)
Zookeeper on 01 Apr 2008 at 5:22 pm #
Every time I try to go either darker or lighter I end up making several trips to the drugstore to fix it…usually wearing a baseball cap. Fortunately I have no photographic evidence of the lovely shades of orange and bright yellow that I have created. I haven’t tried anything drastic in a while. Hmmm…maybe it’s about that time, huh?
Linlee on 01 Apr 2008 at 7:10 pm #
No horror stories yet. I remember asking Pat about dying my hair brown and she said it would take forever because she would have to strip out all the blonde from my highlights first. Did you guys strip your hair before you tried to dye it? Pat said it would really dry it out.
RMB on 01 Apr 2008 at 8:56 pm #
I just know I will never let my friends pick my hair color. The one time I did, she insisted it’ll be the perfect color for you. Problem was she didn’t take ME into account! Lets talk skin color, normal hair color, personality….. I CANNOT do red hair
It was horrible. But the party during the process was sure fun!
Lori on 02 Apr 2008 at 2:12 am #
New color looks great! Welcome to the dark side.
Just remember to punch up your cosmetic colors a little more, since brunettes typically need a bit of a heavier hand with the makeup so as not to look washed out.
At least that’s what I read in a quote from Hilary Duff’s stylist when Hilary went brunette. Hee.
Daisy on 02 Apr 2008 at 4:26 pm #
Mine used to color unevenly when it was also permed. My stylist figured that out after the first disaster (husband asked if it was supposed to be “purple”) and did a fine job after that. This comment is meant to be reassuring: this, too, shall pass.
Missy on 03 Apr 2008 at 12:53 am #
When I was 13 my mother (who is a hairstylist) decided it was guinea pig time for me and “highlighted” my hair with a new product she had used successfully on her own hair. It did not turn out quite the same for me and I wound up with very orange, very brassy hair. I of course engaged in all the theatrics and dramatics that go along with being 13 and having orange hair. She was able to color it back thankfully, but it took forever to grow out. I was over 30 before I ever attempted highlighting again. With much more positive results thankfully. Although I debated hiding a flask in the cape during the whole process to get through it.
HollowSquirrel on 04 Apr 2008 at 2:30 pm #
My best friend highlighted my hair, and our other friend’s 7ft tall boyfriend came over, looked down at me and said “why is the top of your head have yellow spots?” yeah, she didn’t color it too evenly, so there were blotches of yellowy blonde.
I have bad perm stories, too, if necessary…
candid on 04 Apr 2008 at 9:42 pm #
I think it looks nice!! Change is good.
I don’t color my hair because my husband is old and feeble and he would start at each new woman that he woke up next to! LOL Just kidding….I just don’t have the time or the energy to keep up with it…and I’ve earned my ‘frosted’ hairs.
Every.Single.One!!!
Oh, and, Yeay Dana!!!
sweatpantsmomm on 04 Apr 2008 at 11:02 pm #
I don’t have any haircoloring horror stories, but I did get an awful, awful perm once from a buy wearing a peach-colored polyester suit.
That should have tipped me off. Well, that and the fact that my friend and I were the only ones in the salon on a Saturday afternoon.
sweatpantsmomm on 04 Apr 2008 at 11:03 pm #
Okay, that should be ‘guy’ and not ‘buy.’ And I haven’t even had a single margarita.
Ruth Dynamite on 20 Apr 2008 at 1:52 am #
You are gorgeous and shouldn’t be stressing about your hair.